in new york, republican the democraticg challenger. on c-span 2, larry kudlow on small business issues. in the afternoon, the focus is on minority voter turnout, expected in the elections next week. president trump is in missouri for a rally to campaign for republican candidates at 7:30 p.m. our coverage of the national arab-u.s. policymakers conference continues on c-span 30 1:30. for theo connecticut only scheduled debate in the u.s. senate race there. democrat incumbent senator chris murphy faces republican matt corey. this is about 20 minutes.

>> from eyewitness news, connecticut's most-watched local political program. >> good morning and welcome to the face the state senate debate. i am your moderator, dennis. we have matthew corey and chris murphy. thank you for being with us. let's go through the rules. each candidate will have one minute to answer the question and the first in who gets the question first will have 30 seconds to rebut. it could include short answers or one-word answers in some cases. the first question goes to mr. corey because you won the -- what kind of action should the u.s. take against saudi america? mr. corey: thank you so much for having us. senator, for taking time out of your busy day. i know you were campaigning in florida. welcome back to connecticut. we have a lot of ties with saudi arabia. we should not punish the workers

of connecticut or the country. there are half a million jobs at stake for this deal. it is a complex weave with israel and saudi arabia. they are a great ally in the middle east. what we need to do is sanction the people involved. the cover-up was a huge mistake. we need to force saudi arabia to maybe release prisoners of conscience. take better steps for human rights. it has to be a delicate situation because we have a lot of ties -- iranian influence with -- in the middle east and we need to become trouble with what we do. dennis: you have one minute. sen. murphy: they took a u.s. resident and lured him into the consulate and killed him because he spoke out against the saudi regime. one of the things we should stand for is the freedom of the

press here and abroad. i think the trump administration has been unbelievably weak and i think that weakness undermines america's strength around the world. i think we should cut off our support for the saudi-led bombing campaign inside yemen, which has killed thousands of civilians and allowed for al qaeda to become stronger and stronger inside yemen. the wing of al qaeda which represents the biggest threat to the united states. that is the clearest message we can send to them because right now, we are telegraphing to the world that you can come after u.s. residents, kill them with almost total impunity. dennis: 30 seconds to rebut. mr. corey: $150 billion that went to iran with that horrendous deal and help them cause discourse. that is not one country that that would allow a hezbollah-like interest group to sit on their border.

we have mutual interests with saudi arabia and israel to defend against terrorist groups. we have lost a lot of american lives and american soldiers due to that iranian deal. there are proxy wars all over the country. dennis: senator murphy, you voted against neil gorsuch and brett kavanaugh. two supreme court justices are currently in their 80's, so it is possible president trump will get to nominate another judge or possibly two. we have seen his list of possible choices. are any on the list acceptable to you or what kind of jurist would be acceptable? sen. murphy: when i am talking to folks in connecticut, they tell me they want a supreme court that squares with connecticut values. that is what i have heard loud and clear. unfortunately, president trump outsourced the decision about who gets elected to the supreme court to two right-wing political groups. he asked them to come up with a list and he is going to choose from the list. almost everyone on the list that these two political groups gave the president trump would lead

to the criminalization of reproductive health care in this state, would threaten the affordable care act, which delivered insurance to 200,000 connecticut residents, would stand up for corporate rights instead of worker rights and consumer rights. i have not exhaustively looked at every single name on the list provided to the president, but i am going to constantly ask questions as to whether these justices support connecticut values or donald trump's values. if they don't support connecticut values, i will not support them. mr. corey: in 2016, the president was on the ballot and also was the supreme court nominees. the process the united states senate went through was an embarrassment to the country. not only did they drag senator kavanaugh -- judge kavanaugh's family through the mud, they also dragged out of the me too movement a woman that wanted to stay anonymous. what is amazing to me is with

the hush fund in washington, they are questioning the credibility of a supreme court judge and i think the people and names should be exposed. i don't know what they are hiding behind, but i would not want to send my daughter -- there are powerful people in washington. the process should have been easier. they cannot garnish enough public support for policies. what we need to do is the legislature is down in washington need to legislate and not look to the activist courts to fulfill their policies. dennis: you have 30 seconds. sen. murphy: president trump did win the election, but not here in connecticut. ultimately, my job is to represent the state of connecticut. people in connecticut did not support judge kavanaugh. they were worried about what he was going to do to try to help president trump steel health care away from the residents of this state.

it doesn't matter to me what the whole country thinks. it matters what people in connecticut think and people in connecticut did not want kavanaugh put on the supreme court. dennis: how have the trump tax cuts been good or bad for connecticut and if elected, will you work to keep them in place or repeal them? mr. corey: as a small business owner, it helped myself. it has helped a lot of small businesses in the state of connecticut. brought back 35,000 jobs from overseas. 3500 supported connecticut. it is helping small businesses grow. we need that tax cut. connecticut is looking in from the outside. senator murphy says he wants to put up a blue wall in connecticut for trump policies. he is so disconnected with the residents in connecticut. we need to move forward. our country is moving forward. businesses are thriving because

of that. they are reinvesting in this country. we have people taking the leap of faith at 56 years old. a friend of mine went to a -- went from a two man machine shop to an 8-man machine shop. we need to fill jobs. sen. murphy: this trump tax bill was an assault on connecticut and i fought it with everything i had because it represents the biggest tax increase on connecticut taxpayers in the history of our state. it is over $1 billion increase over connecticut. you cannot deduct from federal income taxes, state taxes, or income taxes or it you will see middle-class families across the

state having their taxes go up. of course, a connecticut senator should be fighting against a tax bill that increases our taxes. which, by the way, gives 80% of the benefits to the richest 1% of americans. that is an abomination. i did fight that tax bill with everything i had because it is going to result in a major tax increase on the people of connecticut. if i am reelected, i will go back and fight to reverse a tax bill that increases taxes by a billion dollars in our state mr. corey: senator murphy wants to adopt governor malloy's policy of higher taxes because he thinks he can spend -- small business people are creating jobs around the country. 6.7 job openings in the entire country. connecticut cannot find enough workers. the rest of the country should not suffer because connecticut cannot get its fiscal house in order. the federal government is providing jobs. it is making businesses more business friendly in the state of connecticut. dennis: how would you handle the caravan of migrants approaching the southern border of the

united states? this question is from one of our viewers. senator murphy: i have long supported a stronger border. i have supported legislation that will put billions of additional dollars in defense and personnel on the border. i don't think these individuals coming to the united states should be treated different -- differently than anyone else showing up here and applying for asylum. if you are fleeing violence and rescuing your children from potential desk, you should be able to apply for asylum for refugee status in the united states. if these refugees, if these immigrants meet that bar, they can be protected here in the united states as we protected generations of refugees before. if they don't, they should be sent back home. the fact president trump is using this as a political wedge trying to make us scared of our neighbors, of people with

different skin colors than us, is abhorrent to me. we should solve the immigration problem and we should treat these people no different than anyone else. mr. corey: it is always identity politics. my father was an immigrant. i am half irish and half lebanese. we want people to come to our country legally. this is a failure of washington to pass immigration reform. the president had a bill that would have protected dreamers. people are fleeing, but who is hijacking that caravan? we have people from ms 13. the president of guatemala said they found over 100 isis members in that group. they found over 1000 ms-13 gang members. we need to listen to law enforcement. the border across from laredo, texas is one of the most dangerous borders. border patrol is asking for a wall. they found over 20 pounds of fentanyl from mexican citizens in dayton, ohio. we need border security. we need strong security. there is human trafficking, pedophilia, drugs coming across our border.

we need border security. senator murphy is for european-style vetting. he is saying take that risk as long as you get here, you are able to become a citizen. sen. murphy: i don't know what european-style vetting means and i know this idea that there are hundreds of isis members as part of this caravan is an internet hoax. that is not true. these are people trying to protect their children from potential death and abuse and terror. we should give them a chance to stay in this country if they were to be killed if they go back and this idea that they -- there are isis members or middle easterners as part of this group is ridiculous. dennis: we will take a quick timeout and we welcome your comments on social media. canada just legalized the use of recreational marijuana. some states are doing it. should the united states legalize it. mr. corey: i'm going to

challenge that last question. president of guatemala has said gang members have infiltrated the group and we want people to flee countries who need to flee countries. i will go ahead with the medical marijuana. >> recreational? >> we have to declassify it, it is a class one drug on the federal side. i would like to see more results come out of colorado, where they legalized it. my biggest concern is what the doctors say brain development up to 24 years old. let's see the results of that. i am all for medical marijuana. people with terminal illness or illnesses that can be taken care of. i want more research and i think the government has a big role in the research. recreational marijuana, i would leave that up to the states. we have to be classified as a -- declassify it as a class sen. one. murphy: i would fundamentally disagree. i think this is a question for state legislature to answer and it is important for the federal government to get out of the way and let states make that decision.

i agree you have to reclassify marijuana and you have to make sure if you want an economy around medicinal marijuana or recreational marijuana that you should have companies be able to do banking, which is hard to do today. i have long supported medicinal marijuana and i think the federal government needs to step back and let the state government make the decision themselves. mr. corey: that is what i would do, too. states rights, but they have to declassify it. dennis: if democrats win the senate, beto o'rourke and other candidates are vowing to try to impeach president trump. do you support that and if it does take seed, will you try to stop it? sen. murphy: i certainly do not support it because i want to see this investigation come to fruition from robert mueller. there are some very serious allegations that have been made and the special counsel is doing some serious work.

if it does turn out that president and his campaign colluded with russians to manipulate the 2016 election, we will have to have a conversation about what to do next. i think it is premature now for anyone, including democrats in congress, to be calling for the president's impeachment. i may disagree with much of the way the president conducts himself, with the manner in which he runs the white house, but he was elected. he was elected with the full knowledge on behalf of the country that he would be a very different kind of president and ultimately, the decision about impeachment cannot come until you have this investigation filed by the special counsel. mr. corey: this is the main purpose of the senate and house getting the majority. the first mission they said is we are going to impeach this president and they are going to impeach the supreme court judge, judge kavanaugh. connecticut cannot afford to keep looking in from the outside.

it will bog the government down and obstructs this administration. connecticut has a choice to send someone to work with this administration. let the investigation come through. there is no evidence pointing to the president of collusion. there is no administration that has been harder on russia than this president. we need someone to work with this administration and bring the much news federal funding home to connecticut. >> would you fight to stop impeachment? >> i would like to stop and impeachment and i think it is another obstruction. there's an election in 2016. there is no respect for this administration and a lot of these government agencies. sen. murphy: i think you have to wait for the report to come in. i not sure it is right to say there are no circumstances you would support impeachment. when it could be that the special counsel is going to present some fairly serious evidence to congress. my position with trump is simple. i am going to fight him like

heck when he is doing something terrible like trying to repeal protections for people with pre-existing conditions and i will work with him when he is doing something i think is good for the state like increasing funding for manufacturing jobs and defense jobs. i will fight him when it is right and work with him when it is right for the state. dennis: we welcome your comments on facebook, twitter, or instagram. welcome back. this next question goes to mr. corey. how would you rate president trump's policy toward north korea? is it working? if elected, what would you do to change it or keep it going? >> it is working. we need to set up diplomatic solutions instead of military solutions. senator murphy was calling the president unstable when he was on an asian pacific tour, while mike pompeo was bringing three americans home. it was a wonderful thing. there are 77 families here in the state of connecticut waiting

for answers for their missing and that was a great gesture by president kim to bring them home. diplomatic solutions are the way to go. you cannot be upset we stopped you cannot have a both ways. you cannot be upset we stopped joint military exercises while having diplomatic solutions. this president has something going that is working. president kim is coming to the table. we want peace through north korea. we just need china to come to the table. i believe they will. dennis: mr. murphy? sen. murphy: i support talking to the north koreans. this is a global threat, the idea that north koreans can put a weapon on top of an icbm that can reach the united states. unfortunately, i think kim has negotiated circles around as president. kim has gotten everything he wants. he has gotten a number of important photo ops with the president and the secretary of state and the cancellation of military exercises the united states does with a south korea

and he has had to make almost no concessions with respect to his nuclear program. he shut down a testing facility he was already going to shut down. there are no signs he is stopping or refraining from continuing to make missiles. this president told us he was a good negotiator, but on the global stage, he has been a terrible negotiator. he is interested in photo ops. but he is not interested in forcing countries like the north koreans to change their behavior. i'm willing to support negotiation, but this negotiation has not gone well so far. mr. corey: that is simply not true. you saw the parade they had and they had no ballistic missiles. there have been no more missiles firing over guam or japan. he has brought these negotiations to the table. you have got to give it a chance. the president is on the right track. economic sanctions are some of the strongest sanctions in north korea.

we just have to make china abide by that. the president is on the right track with this. because we have such an economic strength in this country, we are able to negotiate peace to strength through our military and economically. dennis: we will shift to our rapidfire section and begin with senator murphy. do you pledge to serve a six-year term if reelected? sen. murphy: i do. my intention is to serve six years. mr. corey: i would serve 6 years and no more than two terms for a united states senator. dennis: do you believe christine blasey ford's claim? >> i believe she was sexually assaulted but there is no evidence it was judge kavanaugh. sen. murphy: i do believe her and thought she was powerful. and credible. >> do you believe the claims that she was sexually -- one meter broderick's claims that she was sexually assaulted by bill clinton? >> i think there are credible allegations that have been made and concerning once. mr. corey: i believe these women should come forward and in a different manner than they did

to mrs. ford. dennis: if the next governor came to you seeking help to get tolls approved by the federal government or funding to install them, would you assist? mr. corey: i would not assist. i don't think we need another tax, but i would be more than happy to work with any governor or mayor in our cities. sen. murphy: i would work with governor lamont, who talked about putting tolls on these trucks that come in and out of our state. it makes sense we would ask them to pay for the usage of our roads. dennis: do you support congressman larson's proposal to build a tunnel? under the connecticut river, which would require federal funding. sen. murphy: i do and my understanding is it may cost just as much money, less money than the alternative plans. i think it could transform the city of hartford. mr. corey: i think it is a great idea, i would like to see more private sector growth in the area. my focus would be the i-95 corridor and the rail system and the two largest ports, bridgeport and new haven.

i would like to see federal funds going there. dennis: we have had several school shootings. do you support armed guards at connecticut schools? mr. corey: senator murphy's kids get to enjoy washington, d.c. where the schools have armed resource officers. i think it would be a good thing for students and teachers to reach out to an armed resource officer if there was a problem happening in school or home. sen. murphy: i think it is up to each individual school. i don't support arming teachers. i think that is a terrible idea. many school districts have chosen to have police officers on site and that is an individual decision for each school district. dennis: maxine waters has called on people to protest and confront republicans that restaurant and their homes and stores. do you support that? sen. murphy: i think it is best if you leave your political dissent to more appropriate forms. i think this is a time people need to raise their voices. i think you should find the right forms to do that.

mr. corey: i don't understand why senator murphy is so silent and not condemning the actions of elected officials and past elected officials. i thought it was a wonderful thing that the first lady came out and president trump condemned these bomb threats around the country. dennis: which letter grade would you give president trump? mr. corey: a+. sen. murphy: i don't really give letter grades. i think he has been a disaster for the state and i think he will continue to be a disaster for the state going forward. dennis: which letter grade would you give governor malloy? sen. murphy: i don't give letter grades. i think governor malloy has a tough job to do. i may not agree with every decision, but he had a tough set of cards. mr. corey: i would give governor malloy pretty much an f. you could see the two different spectrums of the two leaders. one leader is bringing jobs in making the economy great. the other leader is destroying connecticut with higher taxes. dennis: is connecticut better today than it was 20 years ago?

sen. murphy: it is better in the last two years because of the economic growth. even the pension funds are rising. sen. murphy: that is a tough question to answer in a lightning round. i think there are a lot of sectors in better shape. we have more than you factoring -- manufacturing jobs and there are sectors that have been hurting. dennis: that concludes this u.s. senate debate. we thank our participants. best of luck on election day. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] here is some of our live coverage. thursday at 10:00 a.m., a discussion on election challenges facing states in the midterms and beyond, then more live debates. senatorginia democratic joe manchin. p.m., new york's 22nd congressional district debate.

on c-span2, national economic council director larry kudlow on small business issues, live at 9:30. in the afternoon, the focus is on minority voter turnout expected in the elections next week. president trump is in columbia, missouri to campaign for republican candidates, live at 7:30 p.m. our coverage of the national u.s.-arab policymakers conference continues on c-span3 at 1:30. arab natohe proposed military alliance and issues impacting oil prices. campaign 2018 continues in a couple of minutes. irma national intelligence director james clapper was asked about his experience of a pipe bomb mailing last week. a 56 euros suspect faces five federal charges for sending 15 such devices to prominent democrats, critics of president trump, and media outlets.

here is james clapper. last week, you got a special surprise in the mail. actually, it did not come to your home address. it was sent to cnn. why don't we talked for a little bit or what you tell us what it is like to be the intended recipient of a mail bomb? walk us through what the procedure is when that happens and maybe spend a minute or two discussing what you think it means. >> thanks. i have ourfe and getaway place at the outer banks so on the way down, this was the ,ost disconcerting thing for me listening to the radio on the drive down to north carolina and i heard about these pipe bomb things.

i heard about john brennan. i figured if he sent out enough of them, he would probably get to me. the disconcerting thing was having to call our next her neighbor and say, cool it on retrieving our mail. which they have done for 20 years for us. , i picked up the iphone on the bedside table and i had a text. any comment? on what? two, frankly it was not a surprise, kind of expected it. i will say at least the guy spelled my name correctly and have the right network. what does it mean? it is regrettably a sign of the times.

just for having not been in complete alignment with this administration and this president, somebody took great offense at that. of course, the pipe bomb thing was quickly overcome by this despicable, heinous crime in pittsburgh. and then the killing of the two african-americans in the kroger store in kentucky. those things kind of i thought transcends the fight bomb. -- hype bomb. --pipe bomb. i took pains to commend the superb work done by law enforcement, notably the fbi, who did a marvelous piece of investigatory work. the fbi is not in tatters. >> do you think this is the end

of it? or do you think we are in the middle of a long process in which people are being radicalized and are going to try to carry out their anger in violent ways? , personally,y, yes i think we are probably in for more of this sort of thing. things i immediately became concerned about was ever going to have a copycat here? >> this week on "washington journal," looking at battleground states. the most competitive races of the midterm elections. in minnesota, new york, california, pennsylvania, and florida. join us for our live campaign 2018 call in's during washington journal at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> in the race